Seeking the Teachers Within: Using Shamanic Journeying

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by Freya Ray

We encounter many types of teachers as we follow our spiritual paths. Some of them come in human form, as friends, mentors, teachers or clergy. Some of our teachers communicate their lessons through books, lectures, classes or other media that is available to many, while others work with us privately. In addition, there are innumerable teachers available who are not limited to the constraints of human form and human communication. Guides, power animals, deities, ancestors, etc., can all be petitioned for their instruction via psychic methods.

One of these methods is shamanic journeying. It's sort of an interactive guided meditation with optional drum use. It's a way to enter a deep trance and speak to a variety of teachers. A journey starts with your intention to have a certain kind of experience and then takes on a life of its own as your mind collaborates with your higher self, guides, archetypes and other souls. It's also incredibly useful.

I have used journeys to support healing processes, to ask for advice on upcoming decisions or current crises, to get some loving kindness when feeling vulnerable and to have stuff explained when I'm ignorant or it's making no sense. You might have a set of things you regularly consult your guides (or whichever entities you work with) about. This consultation can take the form of prayer, ritual, psychic readings or meditation. Through using a medium where guides take clearly visible form and speak in complete sentences, you can sometimes get access to even more detailed information than is possible in other mediums. Journeying, when practiced enough to develop skill, is a method that most people can use to get very specific insights and revelations from their team.

I had long experienced going into the journey world to throw my old pain into the Sea of Forgetfulness, to allow my inner God and Goddess to "merge," to ask whether a certain partner was ever going to get their head out of their ass or to ask for assistance in drawing abundance to me, in the highest and best good ofall. I surprised myself one day, though, when I asked for some clear, bullet-point type of instruction.

I was teaching my energy work class, a five-week intensive. I had taught it before, and so had a clear curriculum already developed. However, to keep things interesting and to make sure I met my students' needs, on the first night I always asked them what they hoped to get out of the class. One of my students said she wished to learn how to do long-distance healing.

Oh, boy! Not only was that something I'd never taught, it was also something I'd never done. In class I nodded and said "Sure," and made a note. After class, I consider my options in delivering this requested information.

I could do some research, checking out books on the topic of healing for suggested methods. While this would, I'm sure, have resulted in useful information and a reasonable lesson, it wouldn't have been mine in the same way the rest of the things I taught were. I would have been borrowing someone else's experience. I had a similar reaction to the idea of calling up one of my healer friends and asking them how they go about doing long distance healing.

I wanted something fresh, an approach that was uniquely mine in some way, something that my students couldn't get out of a book themselves. Also, I have a tendency to teach things in no more than three bullet points, if it's even remotely possible. I like it to be easy for someone to start working with spiritual energies. They can always add detail and depth to their knowledge and techniques later.

I could have started doing long distance healing, attempting to get enough information and experience with it to develop class material in the couple weeks available to me. Enormously busy as I was, this idea also lacked appeal. In addition to being difficult to do, I was suspicious about being able to have a broad enough experience base to extract the most important information in a short period of time. Also, I would have been experimenting alone, and long-distance healing is much more powerful when done by a group.

Surrender? No. I went on a little journey. When I asked my guides for their suggestions, a teacher showed up to talk to me. He told me how to teach long-distance healing, in a couple simple bullet points. My guides offered me their version of the essence of this skill. They packaged it for me in a way that worked with my teaching style and provided the information my students needed. I confirmed with one of my healer friends that the syllabus I received was reasonable, and it got the official stamp of approval from someone I knew and trusted on this planet.

On the night of class, I told my students what they needed to know about a few basic ways to do healing from afar. As a group, we tried out three of them. Almost all of the students reported similar experiences (correctly diagnosing ailments of strangers, for example), and they all felt as if something powerful had happened. We got good reports from the people we'd been sending healing energy to.

Hooray! I needed to know how to do something, I asked for information, I used it with great success. Simple.

There are theories that every invention, every idea, exists already in the Akashic records. They're waiting for someone to access them and bring them into form on this plane. If that's true, the next time you need to know something, why not ask your guides to teach you some cool stuff directly?

Here are my three bullet points for journeying. You should always:

• Journey in sacred space
• Enter and leave through your cave
• Say "please" and "thank you."

Simple, right? Let's look at them in more detail.

To journey in sacred space, you need to create a circle of some kind. You can cast a circle in your preferred method or simply call in your guides to be with you and protect your journey. Journeying is best done when you don't have to worry about taking care of your human form. It's not something to do while driving, for example. Find a quiet place where you can be comfortable. Lie down unless you're likely to fall asleep, in which case you can journey from a seated position.

Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and go inward. Take as much time as you need to get present, centered and relaxed.

The way I learned to journey, all travels begin and end in a cave. In your mind, picture yourself in the entrance of your cave. This cave could be based on a place you've actually been, or it could be a spot you imagine. Mine is based on an actual cave I had an amazing experience in, but it is different in my mind. My entrance passageway is longer, giving me more time to travel deeper into the earth.

Use the descent into the earth to bring yourself deeper into meditation. As you progress, feel your brain waves slowing. Let your breathing slow and deepen, and then stop paying attention to your regular body. Focus all your senses on the cave that is surrounding you. Smell the damp air, feel the cool stone under your fingertips, hear the movement of air from bats or the drip of water on rock, notice the details of the view. Use your senses to bring you more thoroughly into the journey world, to anchor you in this reality. Take as long as you need with this step, letting it become more real.

At the base of my entrance passageway, there is an anteroom. This is always the same. What changes is what opens off this small room. Sometimes I am immediately greeted by a wide vista of the place I'm going today -- a meadow, a mountain, my guide's house, even a battlefield when I needed to remember not to fight. Other times, there are various passages, and I choose one to follow. Or, I instantaneously transport myself to where I want to go from this anteroom without using physical methods of travel.

Enter your cave, and find what awaits you there. You can go with an agenda in mind. You might be asking for guidance in making a decision, or you might want to meet with a historical figure and ask him or her questions, or you might seek a vision about your life's purpose and your gifts for the world. There are an infinite number of teachers available to you in the journey world. See what unfolds, ask your questions, receive your guidance. It's an interactive world, so don't be surprised if you don't seem to be controlling your "visualization." In my experience, some of it comes from me and my agenda, my choices about where to travel and who to ask to talk to me, and some of it comes from without.

When you're finished, return to your cave entrance and slowly climb to the surface. When you emerge, open your eyes and return to this reality. Make sure to leave the journey from your starting point, before you do anything else, including falling asleep. Release your circle, and journal your experiences if you want a record.

It is very important to always enter and leave the journey world intentionally, from a fixed entrance. The cave is used to mark the dividing line between this reality and the journey world. If you allow these realities to blur, you can find yourself drifting into a journey when you don't wish to. Or, even more tedious (although less risky), you could fall asleep during your journeys. Don't allow this to become a habit. Leave the journey through normal channels before you drift off.

About your manners while journeying: it is very important to be polite. You should make sure you have permission to speak to people there, or permission to do more active things. I have had a helpful fox appear in my journeys, and he refused to let me pet him. He was awfully prickly about it, so I was very glad I had asked. Other creatures will come and want to be petted or cuddled with. Ask if you're not sure.

This is particularly important with humans you know from this plane. Just because you want to keep processing things with your ex-boyfriend doesn't mean he's given his permission. Sometimes things are impossible to solve in the "real world." It might be beneficial to discuss things, do healing or do release ritual in the journey world. His higher self might be more likely than his material plane self to grant permission for those interactions, which would make them possible. However, sometimes even higher selves don't want to process things anymore. Make sure you have permission in the journey world before you interact with someone.

Thank everyone who helps you. You can thank them verbally, or you can offer gifts. The nice thing about this is that you can create any gift you think of -- it's a very malleable reality. Ask yourself what you think your teacher might like in return. Blueberry muffins? A glowing ruby? Pixie dust? A big color TV with cable? It's up to you. Be creative, and be consistently grateful for any and all assistance.

I've never had any problems with anyone I've met there, but if you're uncomfortable about anything, know that no one can lie to you. Trust yourself. If you're not sure about some being, ask them if they are acting in your highest and best good. Your guide is the only one who will answer "Yes" to the question "Are you my guide?"

Play around! Call in circle, enter and leave through your cave, and mind your manners. That's it, all you need to know. If you happen to have a friend around who will drum a nice slow heartbeat for you, that's a bonus. It's not necessary, though, and it's nice to be able to journey anytime you want, with or without musicians.

All the wisdom of all the ages is waiting for you to ask for it.

Freya Ray is a professional psychic, shaman, writer and teacher. She can be reached for comment or for psychic readings by phone at (206) 276-4290 or freya_ray@yahoo.com. For full information on her practice and a writings archive, check out www.freyaray.com